JTMH Volume 22 | Letter from the Director

As with Texans statewide, 2022 has been a year of renewal and recalibration for the Center of Texas Music History in the wake of the last few eventful years. As historians, we reflect on these changes in part by looking to the lessons of the past and bringing the voices of prior moments to bear on the present. On campus, the Center hosted Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s and Bluebonnets in conversation with novelist Sarah Bird and author Alice Embree speaking recalling the student movements and countercultures of the 1960s through her memoir Voice Lessons. In conjunction with the Texas Music Museum in Austin, we also hosted virtual and in-person events with bluesman Matthew Robinson and journalist Tim Stegall. We took the Center’s scholarly mission abroad, presenting panels of our colleagues’ and students’ research at the Texas State Historical Association in Austin and the International Country Music Conference in Nashville. Many of these occasions exist as recordings that you can revisit on the Center’s YouTube channel.

If last year’s journal took Texas and the Coastal Bend as its home base, 2022 focuses on San Antonio and Central Texas. We begin with Diana Finlay Hendricks’s career retrospective of the late author Jan Reid, whose first book, 1974’s The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock on Austin’s country scene, is foundational to so much music writing in the state. We then shift south to San Antonio with Bill Baird’s rich history of psychedelic artists The Children in an unlikely story that encompasses Steve McQueen, Mike Nesmith, Luciano Pavarotti, and the British post-punk scene, told with unprecedented research and access. Jake Dromgoole furthers the San Antonio focus with a look at how KMAC/KISS and Stone City Attractions turned the Alamo City, for a brief shining moment, into the “Heavy Metal Capital of the World.”  The issue’s book reviews cover new works on Czech music, swing artist Louise Tobin, Houston hip-hop icon DJ Screw, and a memoir of music industry figure Woody Roberts.

The Center looks forward to events and collaborations in the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 on the subjects of Houston hip-hop, the music of El Paso, Freddy Fender, Austin blues and rock history, and more. In our John and Robin Dickson Series at Texas A & M Press, new books this year have included Brian Atkinson’s True Love Cast Out All Evil: The Songwriting Legacy of Roky Erickson, Kathleen Hudson’s Corazón Abierto: Mexican American Voices in Texas Music, and Courtney Lennon’s Live Forever: The Songwriting Legacy of Billy Joe Shaver, with more exciting projects on the horizon.

To learn more about the Center, please contact us or visit our website. As a reminder, the journal is also available online at on our publications page. There’s no charge to receive the journal by mail. Simply contact us at jasonmellard@txstate.edu with your address, and we’ll be happy to put you on our list. You can connect via our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts as well.

Of course, we could not have done any of this without the hard work, advice, and financial contributions from all of our friends and supporters, and there’s plenty more of you now in the wake of our successful Step Up for State fundraising campaign. Welcome! This journal is a group effort of Alan Schaefer, César Limón, Kristi Madden, and myself. We offer our sincerest thanks to Gary Hartman, Callie Lewis, Adam Clark, Tammy Gonzales, John McKiernan-Gonzalez, Jeff Helgeson, Mary Brennan, Gregg Andrews, Thom Lemmons, Madelyn Patlan, Roberta Ruiz, Twister Marquiss, Hector Saldaña, Clay Shorkey, and the Center’s Advisory Board. And thanks to all of you who remain invested in the study, preservation, and celebration of Texas music history.

We would like to extend a special message of gratitude to our Program Administrator Kristi Madden, who retired from the Center in August for new opportunities after serving as an indispensable member of the team since 2015: organizing events, facilitating the production of this journal, and administering the business of a group of scholars dedicated to the exploration of Texas music history. If you have reached out to the Center these past few years, Kristi’s was likely the friendly voice and helping hand you first encountered. So, a tip of the hat to Kristi from her Texas music friends and associates, and we wish her the best in all of her future endeavors!

Dr. Jason Mellard, Director
Center for Texas Music History
Department of History
Texas State University
601 University Drive
San Marcos, TX 78666
(512) 245-1101
jasonmellard@txstate.edu
txstate.edu/ctmh